Over ONE Million International Readers have engaged our various curated digests which provides Insights and Ideas from leading global investors, economists, scientists, experts and media; focusing on Humanity's "BIG 7 Es" as they pertain to individual wealth issues. Meshing the best and brightest minds to provide our world leading - - "INVEST DIFFERENT" with local partners in PRIVATE communities in London, New York, Hong Kong, Zurich, Toronto, Tokyo, Moscow and Beverly Hills, California.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Eurozone Retail Sales Plunge As Concerns Spread, & More

Retail sales in the eurozone fell more sharply than expected in June, a fresh sign that the currency area's economic recovery remains too weak to quickly bring down very high rates of unemployment, or raise inflation to the European Central Bank's target.

Separately, the final results of surveys of purchasing managers at businesses around the eurozone recorded a slowdown in activity during July, although it was less marked than first estimated.

The European Union's statistics agency said Wednesday retail sales in the 19 countries that use the euro fell 0.6% in June from May, but were up 1.2% from the same month last year. It was the largest month-to-month fall since September 2014. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had estimated sales fell 0.2%, having seen figures from Germany that recorded a large drop.

ROME--Italy's industrial production fell more than expected in June, as it contracted in almost all sectors, reversing the rise seen in the previous month, in a sign that the recovery from the country's worst postwar recession is still fragile.

Industrial output in the euro zone's third-largest economy fell 1.1% on the month in seasonally adjusted terms, national statistics institute Istat said Wednesday.

A more modest fall of 0.2% had been the average forecast of 11 economists polled earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

The monthly fall was led by a 1.7% monthly contraction in the production of intermediate goods, while consumer goods fell 0.8% and energy goods' output contracted 1.0% over the period, Istat said.

Italian industrial production fell 0.3% on the year in June in workday-adjusted terms, Istat said.

The OECD's figures indicate that a wave of fresh stimulus measures enacted by central banks around the world since late last year has yet to achieve its main goal--minimizing the risk of a slide into deflation. Very low inflation rates make economies vulnerable to a slide into deflation, an outcome that policy makers regard as unlikely, but highly damaging should it occur.

China Securities Finance Corp, the state margin lender tasked with stabilizing the stock market, has injected 200 billion yuan ($32.21 billion) since July into five newly-launched mutual funds, the official China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.

The numbers of those in temporary employment — whose numbers fell during the crisis partly because of their vulnerability — is on the rise again. In July, the Spanish unemployment roll dropped by 74,000, the best July since 1998. But of the 1.8 million labour contracts that were signed during the month, only 6.9 per cent of the contracts were for permanent positions

Japan’s monetary base stood at a record-high 325.74 trillion yen ($2.63 trillion) at the end of July, up 33.9 percent from a year earlier, as the Bank of Japan continued to provide more liquidity to raise the inflation rate to its targeted 2 percent, BOJ data showed Tuesday. The monetary base reached an all-time high for the 12th straight month. The central bank took additional monetary easing steps last October to raise the pace of supplying funds.

The California Public Employees Retirement System, a $303 billion fund that provides benefits to 1.72 million people, owned a $91.8 million slice of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. in June 2014. At the time, Pioneer was a $33 billion company and one of the biggest shale producers in Texas. Today, Pioneer is worth $19 billion and Calpers’ stake has lost about $40 million in market value.

Learning Success: APPLY Tips From The Best

Warren Buffett,Berkshire Hathaway – He is a deeply conservative trader during the times that everyone around him is moving from one extreme to the other to the tune of huge losses and gains. Warren Buffett is a perfect example of patience, proving that slow and steady generally wins the business race. (Although I continue to press my own desire to spur Fishbowl’s inventory software business to race!)

Deflationary Collapse Ahead? Summation The analysis that comes closest to the situation we are reaching today is the 19...

Ideas

Consult Your Adviser

IMPORTANT NOTICE: All readers should note that all comments may not be Released and Published on the Date Indicated as they are first distributed to clients for Discussions, decisions and appropriate action. Depending upon the Nature of the post and other factors, actual posting for public purposes may be delayed up to sixty days. Readers should not rely on these comments in any form and should consult their own Independent Advisers for advice.